Traceability in an ERP system is more than transactions:

Traceability in an ERP system is more than transactions:

Most ERP systems are capable of capturing inventory transactions and associating a Lot or Serial number to the items being transacted. This allows a company to track a unique identifier for purchased items, manufactured parts, and customer shipments. When these Lot or Serial numbers are linked together it is possible to view the complete history of how a product was built, where a component was used, and what was sent to a customer.

The next evolution in business systems is to integrate workflow and document management into the transaction processing of the ERP system. By integrating workflow and document management a company is able to predefine the process for collecting and managing information. Workflow allows a company to predefine which fields are required at each stage of the process, and then automatically route that workflow request to the user(s) responsible for acting on that request.

The merging of transactions, workflow and document management results in a combination of traceability and accountability. In this scenario the data is captured and stored so it can be easily retrieved, and the individual(s) responsible for acting on that data are clearly defined and their actions are captured.

Examples of where this could apply include:
1) Receipt of a purchased item- upon the receipt of a purchased part the ERP system will transact the receipt, update inventory, lot/serial data and the voucher. Yet those purchased items may also require incoming inspection or test. Workflow and document management can capture; quality assurance, test or compliance data elements and route them to the appropriate people to action. Source or key documents related to that transaction can be linked to multiple attributes and then stored in a central secure location.

2) Scrap of an item during production- during shop floor transactions some items may fail and need to be scrapped. For items that are scrapped specific test or disposition information may need to be collected and stored so it can be analyzed later. After the data is collected on the scrapped item, a workflow request may need to be approved, or acknowledged.
3) Shipment to customer- after items are shipped to customers there may be a need to follow up and contact a customer and confirm the product was able to perform all of the required tasks. After a shipment transaction is performed a predefined workflow request can prompt a user to contact a specific company and collect specific data. And then based on the data collected that request can be automatically routed to another person for analysis.

As you can see the combination of an ERP system with a workflow and document management system has many significant benefits. This combination of functionality collects the raw data elements, organizes the internal workflow, and captures documents in a structured format. This combination is very powerful because it puts the power of information in a single location so a user can quickly see the source data elements, which did what during the process, and what supporting documentation exists.